Is Genesis 2: 15-17 an explanation of Original Sin?

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E is for Eve

Genesis 1: 27; Genesis 2: 18; Genesis 2: 20; Genesis 2: 23;
Genesis 3: 2; Genesis 3: 6; Genesis 3: 15; Genesis 3: 20

In my humble observation, the importance of Eve in the following verses is often overlooked. I do not mean the importance of being a servant to Adam. 😉
Genesis, chapter 2. usccb.org/bible/genesis/2

18
The LORD God said: It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suited to him.
19
So the LORD God formed out of the ground all the wild animals and all the birds of the air, and he brought them to the man to see what he would call them; whatever the man called each living creature was then its name.
20
The man gave names to all the tame animals, all the birds of the air, and all the wild animals; but none proved to be a helper suited to the man.

Genesis, chapter 3. usccb.org/bible/genesis/3

20
The man gave his wife the name “Eve,” because she was the mother of all the living.

Starting with Genesis 3: 20 and the Catholic truth that Eve is the mother of humankind, we slip back to Genesis 2: 18 where God notices that Adam is lonely. God does not tell Adam to pick one or more of an indiscriminate, random breeding group of similar decomposing anatomies. Instead, God takes matters into His own hands. He fashions a special being who can be truly loved by Adam so that humankind can begin as the unique marvelous pinnacle species. No wonder Adam smiled as he declared a thank you to his Creator: “This one, at last, is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh;"
 
Hi Granny!
grannymh said:
I am very happy in the Catholic Church.
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That makes both of us! 🙂
I am learning a lot about the Catholic historical reality of Adam and Original Sin. I do hope you will understand that my energy is involved in understanding Catholic Original Sin as the historical author describes along with Catholic truths. As I learn more about Catholic teachings, there may be times when I might comment on what I find in your posts. Thank you.
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Feel free! I don’t want to bother you or hijack this thread, though, and I am going to be away from my computer for awhile so I’m going to give it a break. I have been in conversation with a person who believes that God created Adam and Eve with some limitations and then gave them a task for which their limitations hindered their performance. Since this seems cruel on God’s part, I can see that there was a need to create the concept of “preternatural”, asserting that A&E were not given a task that they were likely to fail. The problem is, if A&E’s nature was “preternatural”, how do we even relate to the story? Adam and Eve, if “pretenatural”, might as well be Martians. And then, to punish all of their children (If Martians could have human children) again compromises the love of God. Saying “God is not a human parent” does not help, Granny, to our minds it makes God less loving than loving people, so we have to make the “mystery file” even bigger.

And this is exactly the god that some people conclude. They find themselves coerced to worship a god that is cruel and unforgiving, a god that throws people into hell and does not care about the well-being of certain people and/or finds people worthless. If this is the case, what good is faith? The people of “daesh” have such an image, and their actions promote that image.
Maybe later, I will have the energy to understand your organization and then learn what you are promoting. 😃
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My organization? I am a confirmed and dedicated Catholic. What I am promoting you can find in my signature!

Thank you for responding to me, dear. I stand out of the way and allow you to continue without my interruptions. 😊
 
F is for Figurative Language
It is precisely because of figurative language that I am truly amazed by the intelligence of the author of the first three chapters of Genesis. I have no doubt that this brilliant member of the Hebrew Nation is the original member of Mensa International mensa.org/
 
G is for God

When some, not all, other Catholics sidestep the truth that “God is not a human parent” by hinting that it makes God less loving than loving people, we find an upside down approach to real life. Some of us may look at a mirror and see God in our image. We would not tell our sister and brother to enter a dark forest where they would be coerced to worship serpents which have the gift of golden speech like some, not all, speakers/writers. It is so easy to see ourselves as worthless, because that is a great excuse to trash annoying Catholic teachings.

When G is for God, we can stand upright in our own garden with the secure faith that the Real Divine Creator God is the Gardener. As my friend said: God does not make junk. Not only does God give us the tools to be in a real friendship relationship with Himself (State of Sanctifying Grace), He has given us the Catholic Sacrament of Confession and Reconciliation to be used when we freely reject our Divine Creator like the original Adam did.
 
G is for God continued

Here is an important question. If God is not a human parent, what is He in
Genesis 2: 15-17? Catholics. Do not be confused. Pray the “Our Father” prayer. :signofcross:
 
grannymh said:
G is for God

When some, not all, other Catholics sidestep the truth that “God is not a human parent” by hinting that it makes God less loving than loving people, we find an upside down approach to real life. Some of us may look at a mirror and see God in our image. We would not tell our sister and brother to enter a dark forest where they would be coerced to worship serpents which have the gift of golden speech like some, not all, speakers/writers. It is so easy to see ourselves as worthless, because that is a great excuse to trash annoying Catholic teachings.

When G is for God, we can stand upright in our own garden with the secure faith that the Real Divine Creator God is the Gardener. As my friend said: God does not make junk. Not only does God give us the tools to be in a real friendship relationship with Himself (State of Sanctifying Grace), He has given us the Catholic Sacrament of Confession and Reconciliation to be used when we freely reject our Divine Creator like the original Adam did.
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None of us can reject God like Adam/Eve did?
 
grannymh said:
Maybe yes. Maybe no.

It all depends on the rejection action and who did the rejecting.
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I’m not sure how you understand this, or how you can say it.

We are born from the original two fallen humans, we do not have what they had been given as they lost it.
Not everyone is born into a Christian family, not everyone has the original sin washed away as a child, as adults yes they can make a decision to be baptised. However, being born with original sin, and being the ones created sinless are two very different situations.
 
grannymh said:
G is for God continued

Here is an important question. If God is not a human parent, what is He in
Genesis 2: 15-17? Catholics. Do not be confused. Pray the “Our Father” prayer. :signofcross:
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I don’t recall anyone on this thread referring to God as a human parent?

God is always referred to as he, even though God is not a male in the way we understand a male human to be.

As I recall, the writer does not describe God as a he, but as a spirit.
 
simpleas said:
I don’t recall anyone on this thread referring to God as a human parent?

God is always referred to as he, even though God is not a male in the way we understand a male human to be.

As I recall, the writer does not describe God as a he, but as a spirit.
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CAF is filled with allegories or explanations of Original Sin which use the actions of a “human” parent telling his child or warning his child …
Genesis chapter 2 usccb.org/bible/genesis/2

15
The LORD God then took the man and settled him in the garden of Eden, to cultivate and care for it.
16
The LORD God gave the man this order: You are free to eat from any of the trees of the garden
17
except the tree of knowledge of good and evil. From that tree you shall not eat; when you eat from it you shall die

I may be the only person on planet CAF who finds the words “LORD God” necessary information. Without a firm acknowledgement of God’s friendship relationship aka Adam’s State of Original Holiness which is the same as our State of Sanctifying Grace, there is a lot of unnecessary confusion.
 
grannymh said:
CAF is filled with allegories or explanations of Original Sin which use the actions of a “human” parent telling his child or warning his child …
Genesis chapter 2 usccb.org/bible/genesis/2

15
The LORD God then took the man and settled him in the garden of Eden, to cultivate and care for it.
16
The LORD God gave the man this order: You are free to eat from any of the trees of the garden
17
except the tree of knowledge of good and evil. From that tree you shall not eat; when you eat from it you shall die

I may be the only person on planet CAF who finds the words “LORD God” necessary information. Without a firm acknowledgement of God’s friendship relationship aka Adam’s State of Original Holiness, there is a lot of unnecessary confusion.
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I think it’s because we could not or would find it very difficult to relate and try to understand God.
I suppose there are excellent explanations.
 
simpleas said:
I think it’s because we could not or would find it very difficult to relate and try to understand God.
I suppose there are excellent explanations.
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The excellent explanations are found in the Catholic doctrines which flow from the first three chapters of Genesis. From what I observe, I am not the only person who did not read the entire first three chapters in Genesis before I landed here. :o
 
grannymh said:
The excellent explanations are found in the Catholic doctrines which flow from the first three chapters of Genesis. From what I observe, I am not the only person who did not read the entire first three chapters in Genesis before I landed here. :o
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I read the first three chapters, and more! But I never read it in the light that I have now since landing on CAF 👍

I’m not sure which doctrines explain how God is thought of as ‘male’, I remember the CCC teaching God is neither male or female.
 
H is for Heaven

The goal of joy eternal in the heavenly Presence of the Beatific Vision belongs equally to Adam and to ourselves. Genesis 1: 27.
 
I is for the Individual Adam, part 1.

Personally, I have never lost my interest in the “Adam & Logic” concept, that is, looking at Adam from questions about his existence. There has to be some logical reasons for his appearance as a creature on planet earth.

In the 1940’s (yes, I was alive back then) some, not all, Catholics were doubting the possibility that an individual could survive in the very ancient world thousands and thousands and thousands of years ago. FYI The practical author of the first three chapters of Genesis treated Adam’s survival as a no-brainer. The science of agriculture, Genesis 2: 15.

If an individual intelligent handsome man could not survive, there would be no need for parts 1, 2, etc. Thus, we need to devote a bit of time (during commercials) finding the reasons for Adam’s survival.
 
I is for the Individual Adam, part 2.
The human person is worthy of profound respect.
 
I is for the Individual Adam, part 3.

In this century, there are some, not all, other Catholics who have a bit of trouble with the nitty-gritty of the individual Adam. To help other Catholics, may I respectfully suggest that we use the following basic fundamental axioms as a very good tool for exploring, explaining, and validating the existence of Adam and Original Sin.
  1. God as Creator exists.
  2. God as Creator interacts personally with each individual human.
  3. Every individual human has the inherent capacity to interact with God as Creator.
 
grannymh said:
I is for the Individual Adam, part 3.

In this century, there are some, not all, other Catholics who have a bit of trouble with the nitty-gritty of the individual Adam. To help other Catholics, may I respectfully suggest that we use the following basic fundamental axioms as a very good tool for exploring, explaining, and validating the existence of Adam and Original Sin.
  1. God as Creator exists.
  2. God as Creator interacts personally with each individual human.
  3. Every individual human has the inherent capacity to interact with God as Creator.
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For a moment, let us put aside all the current Christian proposals that the investigating author of the first three chapters of Genesis borrowed, adapted, or flat out copied the legends of neighboring cultures.

I am sure that our gentle readers who remember the god of war, the god of the harvest, the god of fertility or the chief god of the gods, will recognize the one common similarity which the discerning author did use.
 
grannymh said:
For a moment, let us put aside all the current Christian proposals that the investigating author of the first three chapters of Genesis borrowed, adapted, or flat out copied the legends of neighboring cultures.

I am sure that our gentle readers who remember the god of war, the god of the harvest, the god of fertility or the chief god of the gods, will recognize the one common similarity which the discerning author did use.
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It should be obvious that pagan cultures recognized the role and importance of super-natural gods. The holy author of the first three chapters also recognized the role and importance of the One True God. Genesis 1:1.
 
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